Road Safety Bill [HL]

We are talking about single carriageways. We are talking about a car stopping in an emergency when travelling at 60 miles per hour and a shunt occurring. However, I shall read Hansard as regards the car travelling in front. Noble Lords should bear in mind that, because of their size and weight, accidents involving HGVs will generally have more serious consequences than accidents involving smaller, lighter vehicles. This is the real issue. If the HGV speed limit were to be increased, would there be more rear-end shunt accidents involving HGVs? The answer to that question is to some extent unknown, but even at the current 40 miles per hour speed limit, the HGV accident involvement rate on single carriageway rural roads is some 45 per cent higher than that for cars. Part of the explanation for that might be the fact that HGVs are generally less manoeuvrable than cars because of the size of HGVs. A further part of the explanation might be the fact that so many HGVs already travel faster than the speed limit anyway. The statistics show that 30 per cent already exceed even 50 miles per hour. At any rate, if the HGV speed limit were to be increased, the Government fear that there would be more accidents, injuries and fatalities. It is sometimes said that car drivers become irritated when following slower moving HGVs, and that having to do so might even encourage dangerous overtaking manoeuvres in some cases. Indeed, the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, referred to that frustration. Of course, that is a concern, but I am afraid that it will never be possible to find a speed limit which will satisfy some drivers. Indeed, the very same people who become irritated when following an HGV at 40 miles per hour are just as likely to be equally irritated if they are following at 50 miles per hour. Sadly, it seems to be a fact of life that some people just do not like following other vehicles, irrespective of what type of vehicle we are talking about. But that is not a good reason to increase the HGV speed limit. Such concerns about what is essentially bad driving need instead to be addressed by promoting better awareness—which is something that the Department for Transport does—and, where necessary, by appropriate enforcement action by the police. In short, increasing the speed limit for heavy goods vehicles on single-carriage roads would create unacceptable risks to road safety. For that simple but nevertheless critical reason, I sincerely hope that noble Lords will be persuaded and that the noble Baroness will withdraw the amendment.